The present invention is directed to user interfaces and more Particularly, to a method of navigation and interaction with a user interface. Such interaction and navigation involve operating an input device such as a mouse, a trackball or a three-dimensional (hereinafter “3D”) pointing remote device. The operation of the input device includes at least one of scroll, point, click, gesture, etc.
User interfaces, such as graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are well known. Virtually all computers include (or, enable) a graphical user interface in order to make the interaction with the computer more “user friendly”. This is accomplished by reducing, if not eliminating, the number of keystrokes a user is required to enter (or depress or input, etc.) in order to perform a function such as launching an application residing on the computer. An increasing number of other electronic devices, from cell phones to user controls on appliances, rely on various graphical user interfaces that facilitate a user interaction with the particular device.
Traditional methods of using a GUI (on a computer for example) include the use of an input device such as a mouse or a track ball. A movement of the mouse or the track ball results in a corresponding graphical cursor (sometimes called a cursor or a pointer) moving on the graphical user interface. The graphical cursor (or pointer) can thus be navigated to an object (represented by an icon) on the GUI that corresponds to an executable task such as launching a software application for example.
Once the graphical cursor is navigated to an icon, the corresponding task can be executed by clicking (depressing) on an actuating button that is integrated within the input device. For example, if the icon on the GUI corresponds to a word processing application, clicking on the icon results in launching the word processing application. The graphical cursor can also be used to rapidly scroll through pages of text within a word processing document for example.
More recently, other input devices such as the Free Space Pointing Device™ developed by Hillcrest™ Labs of Rockville, Md. (assignee of the present application) have incorporated functionality associated with a mouse or track ball. The Free Space Pointing Device is a handheld device similar to that illustrated in FIG. 10. This device, like a mouse or a track ball, has a corresponding graphical cursor which can be navigated around on a display or user interface to highlight, select and actuate buttons (or icons) for executing functions associated with the buttons.
By holding the Free Space Pointing Device and through hand and arm gestures or movement (twisting or waving of the hand for example) of the user, the graphical cursor can be navigated to the desired buttons for selection and actuation.
The precision of the Free Space Pointing Device enables detection of the slightest movements of a user. The graphical cursor may be navigated to an icon (or a button) by user hand movement and the user may contemplate his or her next action prior to actuating the icon. During this time, slight movements of the user hand, given the precision of the device, may lead to drifting of the graphical cursor from the highlighted or selected (but not yet actuated) icon. This may take place, for example, during a presentation or a tutorial in which the user may be explaining to an audience the functionality associated with a highlighted (or selected) icon prior to actuating the icon. In order to actuate the icon, additional user action (such as movement) may be required to reposition the graphical cursor on the icon of interest before actuation of the icon.
Some embodiments provide controlled navigation of a graphical cursor on a user interface.